University System of Maryland and the Army Research Laboratory (ARL) Form New Tech-Transfer Partnership

To speed researchers’ innovations to market and help create jobs, the University of Maryland-led Alliance gives small, targeted grants for demonstration projects that can help prove to potential investors that a successful laboratory concept works – often a make-or-break challenge.

From CisionWire:

“COLLEGE PARK, Md. – An innovative Maryland technology transfer program – the first of its kind in the United States to partner federal labs and public universities – has received an award honoring its success.

The Maryland Proof of Concept Alliance, which teams the Army Research Laboratory (ARL) and the University System of Maryland, was recognized as a national model by a group representing federal labs.

The Mid-Atlantic Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer (FLC) – has made the Alliance the first recipient of its Partnership Award honoring successful collaborations between educational institutions and federal labs.

To speed researchers’ innovations to market and help create jobs, the University of Maryland-led Alliance gives small, targeted grants for demonstration projects that can help prove to potential investors that a successful laboratory concept works – often a make-or-break challenge.

“The Maryland Proof of Concept Alliance demonstrates that this tech-commercialization approach translates quite effectively to the federal sector,” says Mojdeh Bahar, FLC chair and former coordinator of the FLC’s Mid-Atlantic Region.

“Proof of concept has worked well in the private sector, and it’s quite an effective way of transferring promising technologies from university research labs into the marketplace. The Maryland program offers an important example of what public universities and federal labs can do together,” Bahar adds…”

READ FULL PRESS RELEASE [web]
Maryland Technology Enterprise Institute [web]
University System of Maryland Strategic Plan 2020 [web]

Can the U.S. Government “Out-Startup” Silicon Valley?

Lean LaunchPad, Steve Blank, Stanford and the Nat’l Science Foundation Set Out to Prove They Can Starting Sunday, Oct. 9

From BusinessWire:

“One hundred of the best U.S. scientists and engineers are about to start one of the most exciting science experiments ever attempted — can you turn Rocket Scientists into startup founders? It might be called the U.S. Government versus tech incubators like Y-Combinator, as the National Science Foundation (NSF) creates a full-fledged incubator, complete with mentoring, for 100 teams of top engineers and scientists.

The National Science Foundation, which funds all non-medical science and engineering research in the U.S., is giving out 18,000 grants a year — with a $7 billion annual budget for innovation. This new Innovation-Corps program will infuse “startup” culture, training and mentoring for the best science and engineering funded by NSF–taking the best projects out of the science labs and universities to speed privatization and job creation, following the path of incubators like TechStars and Y-Combinator…”

READ FULL ARTICLE [web]
NSF I-Corps Program [web]
I-Corps 1st Round of Awardees Announced [web]
Stanford Technology Ventures Program [web]
I-Corps introduction by Steve Blank [web]

Uncle Sam to university inventors: School is in session

[The Kauffman Foundation] found that post-docs with entrepreneurial training served as critical bridges between the university and the businesses that were interested in licensing university technologies.

From Vivek Wadhwa of Washington Post:

“The National Science Foundation (NSF) announced at the end of July that it is setting up a public–private partnership to turn the most promising breakthroughs from its funding portfolio into successful start-ups. The partnership, called Innovation Corps (I-Corps), will teach participants the basics of entrepreneurship, connect them with mentors, and provide $50,000 in seed funding. This is essentially a Silicon Valley-style incubator for scientists and engineers.

If past is prologue, the vast majority of the start-ups to emerge from this program will fail. Even venture capitalists only claim to have a one-in-ten batting average. The government can’t possibly do better. But I am optimistic that I-Corps will be a game changer. In the long term, it will likely produce returns that are orders of magnitude greater than the $5 million per year that will be spent. That’s because it addresses one of the core problems of the university research system, narrowing the gap between science and innovation…”

READ FULL ARTICLE [web]
About the NSF I-Corps program [web]
NSF Innovation Corps Website [web]

White House “White Board” Looks at Startup America

Chief Economist Austin Goolsby uses the White Board to walk through the basics of Startup America.

From Policy Forum Blog:

“Recently, [the White House White Board] marked the first 180 days of Startup America with a self-conducted progress report on administration commitments to improve the environment for high-growth entrepreneurship. That list covers five main categories:

• Unlocking Access to Capital for Entrepreneurs
• Connecting Mentors to Entrepreneurs
• Reducing Barriers and Making Government Work for Entrepreneurs
• Accelerating Innovation from Lab to Market
• Unleashing Market Opportunities

READ FULL BLOG POST [web]
View White House White Board Presentation [web; video]
Announcing Startup America [web]

NSF Awards $10 Million Grant to Stanford University to Launch National Center to Educate Entrepreneurial Engineers

Next generation of engineers will combine innovation and entrepreneurial know-how with technical skills to power the nation’s growth.

The National Science Foundation has awarded a five-year, $10 million grant to launch a national center for teaching innovation and entrepreneurship in engineering, based at Stanford University. Directed by the Stanford Technology Ventures Program (STVP), the entrepreneurship center at Stanford’s School of Engineering, the new center addresses the critical need for innovative and entrepreneurial engineers. STVP’s key partner on this initiative is the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance (NCIIA).

The center, which launches operation in September 2011, will catalyze major changes in undergraduate engineering programs by developing an education, research and outreach hub for the creation, collection and sharing of resources among the almost 350 engineering schools in the United States… [more]

Learn more about the initiative [web]
Stanford Technology Ventures Progam [web]
NCIIA [web] [Facebook]

I-CORPS – NSF Innovation Corps [web]

NSF Innovation Corps (I-Corps) is a new effort to help develop scientific and engineering discoveries into useful technologies, products and processes.The NSF Innovation Corps (I-Corps) program, a public-private partnership, will connect NSF-funded scientific research with the technological, entrepreneurial and business communities to help create a stronger national ecosystem for innovation that couples scientific discovery with technology development and societal needs (www.nsf.gov/i-corps).

Kauffman Foundation Accepting Proposals for 2011-2012 Entrepreneurship Dissertation Fellowship Grants

Program will award grants of $20,000 each to 15 doctoral scholars

DEADLINE: Sept. 14, 2011
RFP: http://sites.kauffman.org/KDFP/kdfp_rfp.cfm

Press Release

KANSAS CITY, Mo., May 16, 2011 – The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation announced today that the 2011-2012 Kauffman Dissertation Fellowship Program’s online Request for Proposals is available now through Sept. 14, 2011. The Kauffman Foundation will award up to 15 Dissertation Fellowship grants of $20,000 each to Ph.D., D.B.A. or other doctoral students for the support of dissertations in the area of entrepreneurship.

“Since its establishment in 2003, the Kauffman Dissertation Fellowship Program has awarded fellowships to 123 world-class scholars,” said Robert J. Strom, Ph.D., director of Research & Policy at the Foundation. “We are eager to see the contributions that this new group of Fellows will make to the important field of entrepreneurship.”

This competitive program is open to students seeking doctoral degrees from accredited U.S. institutions of higher education. This program is intended for students who are in the process of formulating their dissertation proposals as well as doctoral candidates with recently approved dissertation proposals. It is expected that applicants will complete their dissertations by the conclusion of the 2012-2013 academic year.

Graduate students interested in applying for the Kauffman Dissertation Fellowship Program can find the Request for Proposals online at www.kauffman.org/kdfp. All proposals must be submitted via the online application by 5:00 p.m. Central on Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2011. Please direct all questions to kdfp@kauffman.org.

Recipients may use the grant to pay for costs associated with their dissertation, including data collection and analysis, databases, specialized hardware/software and travel.

ASU Program Receives $1 Million Grant To Help Entrepreneurs

A new program at ASU designed to help entrepreneurs, is getting a $1 million grant from the state.

The grant will spur a number of new programs designed to help ASU faculty, students and related companies develop their business plans. The services will be based out of SkySong in Scottsdale.

“Universities are uniquely able to drive job creation and economic growth by generating and commercializing scientific breakthroughs.” -Michael Crow, President, ASU

Business Journal [read more]
VentureCatalyst @ ASU [website]
SkySong Initiative [read more]
Innovation Arizona [website]
Facebook Page [VentureCatalyst@ASU]

New “i6 Challenge” U.S. Grant Program to Bring Innovative Ideas to Market

Updated for the 2011 i6 competition

i6 Green Challenge: Application Deadline: May 26, 2011

Press release [web]
Official Notice [pdf]
EDA i6 program [web]

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Application Deadline: is July 15, 2010.
i6 Challenge [ website ]

The U.S. Department of Commerce’s Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship and Economic Development Administration (EDA) announced a new $12 million innovation competition, in partnership with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Science Foundation (NSF).

Entrepreneurs, investors, universities, foundations, and non-profits are encouraged to participate in the i6 Challenge.

The EDA will award up to $1 million to each of six winning teams with the most innovative ideas to drive technology commercialization and entrepreneurship in their regions

U.S. Department of Commerce [ press release ]
i6 Challenge FAQ [ website ]

New U.S. Program for Student-Led Broadband Innovations

Tom Kalil, Deputy Director for Policy in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and US CTO Aneesh Chopra, are asking for input on a new initiative to spur student-led innovation around next-generation broadband networks. From the Office of Science and Technology Policy:

” Although it’s impossible to predict what the next generation of applications will be, universities, companies, and students could work together under such an initiative, which would serve as a sort of “Petri dish” where new ideas could incubate and grow.

The initiative could have a number of elements, including:

• Campus-based incubators for the development of broadband applications, with access to high-speed networks, cutting-edge peripherals, software development kits, and cloud computing services.
• Relevant courses that encourage multidisciplinary teams of students to design and develop broadband applications.
• Competitions that recognize compelling applications developed by students. Some existing competitions that could serve as models include Google’s Android Developer Challenge, Microsoft’s Imagine Cup, and the FCC-Knight Foundation’s “Apps for Inclusion” competition. ”

Read the OSTP [announcement]
Dept of Commerce [Broadband Tech Opportunities Program]